"The first victory we can claim is that our hearts are free of hatred. Hence we say to those who persecute us and who try to dominate us: ‘You are my brother. I do not hate you, but you are not going to dominate me by fear. I do not wish to impose my truth, nor do I wish you to impose yours on me. We are going to seek the truth together’. THIS IS THE LIBERATION WHICH WE ARE PROCLAIMING."
Oswaldo José Payá Sardiñas (2002)

Thursday, March 5, 2015

Castro Regime at the United Nations Human Rights Council

Undermining human rights at the UN for decades

UN experts justify the presence of outlaw regimes such as Cuba and North Korea in the UN
Human Rights Council arguing that it would temper their behavior. It appears that just the opposite has been the case. The regime successfully undermined freedom of expression and narrowly failed in undermining the right to peacefully protest.The latest example, the Castro regime has backed the creation of a new post at the United Nations Human Rights Council designed to classify sanctions against rogue regimes as violations of human rights.
The new “Special Rapporteur on the negative impact of unilateral
coercive measures on the enjoyment of human rights” will be appointed at
the end of March during the current month-long session of the UNHRC.

For decades the Castro regime has been a negative force internationally undermining human rights despite its claims. Below is a partial accounting:

In the 1970s in addition to
supporting guerrillas and terrorists the Castro regime also began an unusual relationship with the military dictatorship in Argentina helping to block efforts
to condemn it at the United Nations Human Rights Commission for thousands of
leftists disappeared by the regime.

On March 28, 2008 the Castro
regime’s delegation together with the Organization of Islamic Congress (OIC) successfully passed resolutions undermining international freedom of expression standards at
the United Nations Human Rights Council.

“I
regret that in spite of its clear invitation, the Government of Cuba has not
allowed me to objectively assess the situation of torture and ill-treatment in
the country by collecting first-hand evidence from all available sources.”

On July 15, 2013: “Panama
captured North Korean-flagged ship from Cuba with undeclared military cargo.” On March 6, 2014 the United Nations released a report indicating that the Castro regime was in violation of international
sanctions placed on North Korea and had not cooperated with the investigation.

On March 17, 2014 the UN Human
Rights
Council “was divided” in its discussion of the
atrocities in North Korea between
those who want the case to be elevated
to the International Criminal Court and those who reject outright the
existence of a commission of inquiry and conclusions. The Castro regime vigorously defended the
North Korean regime and denounced the inquiry.

On March 28, 2014 at the
United Nations Human Rights Council a resolution for “The promotion and
protection of human rights in the context of peaceful protests, tried to
safeguard this right” passed but with the narrow defeat of amendments that
would have watered it down led by South Africa with the backing of Algeria,
Belarus, China, Cuba, Egypt, Ethiopia, Russia, Saudi Arabia and
Venezuela. Out of that list of countries the one with the closest relationship
with South Africa is Cuba.

The one time the Castro regime opened to international human rights inspection was when it felt most pressured by a hostile international environment in the Reagan-Bush years. By the late 1980s with the
collapse of their main subsidizer, the Soviet Union, the
Castro regime was temporarily on the defensive. For the first time since 1959
they felt forced to allow the International Red Cross to visit prisons, allowed
Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International to enter Cuba in a formal visit as
well as the United Nations Human Rights Commission in 1989. It would not be repeated.